Gov. Rick Scott and Florida Education Commissioner Tony Bennett sat down with school superintendents from across the state on Wednesday, and promptly heard their concern over legislative proposals aiming to tie teacher pay raises to classroom performance.
Such a requirement could mean teachers might not get their raise until next year, they said.
Scott reiterated his proposal to give a $2,500 pay raise to all teachers this year and not tie it to performance.
The right thing is to do it the way weve proposed it," Scott told the superintendents. "Our teachers are doing a good job. Theyre going to continue to do a good job. I think the right thing is to give them an across-the-board pay raise and I look forward to working with the House and the Senate to finish up this session and do the right thing for our teachers.
Said Bennett, I think any time we have the opportunity to reach out and talk to superintendents, there are also teachers here, listen to the suggestions they have on how we solve problems, how we work together to bring meaningful education reform to the state that is easily implemented and makes sense and all fits together. I think these are the conversations Governor Scott has committed to long before I ever got here and Im thrilled to be a part of them.
Scott told superintendents hes also trying to give them as much flexibility as possible and he supports moving to Common Core State Standards along with most of the other states.
Dave Heller is a Tallahassee freelance reporter/videographer.
